Lawrence has appeared in over two hundred films and television series dating back to 1932. His brooding, sinister appearance often got him cast in the role of villains, especially gangsters and mob bosses – roles which he played throughout his entire career, from his uncredited appearance in 1932's If I Had a Million to the 1996 TV movie Gotti. He even played three different gangster roles on the TV series The Untouchables. He was not always cast in such roles, however; he has received much praise for his performance as mute in the 1941 Western drama The Shepherd of the Hills, starring John Wayne. However, he is probably best remembered for playing Kloppman in the 1992 film Newsies (also featuring Frank Novak).

He also appeared in two James Bond films (Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 (alongside Sid Haig and Dick Crockett) and The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974), three Abbott and Costello movies (Hold That Ghost in 1941, Hit the Ice in 1943, and Abbott & Costello in the French Foreign Legion in 1950), and in three Charlie Chan films (each playing a different character): Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937, with Keye Luke), Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938), and Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940).

Lawrence's birth year of February 1910 makes him the earliest-born actor to have appeared in either Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (not including the archival footage of actor Whit Bissell from "The Trouble with Tribbles" that appeared in the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations").